Water & Wastewater Treatment

4 ALLIANCES 2020 ALLIANCES 2020 Collaborative approach offers significant advantages Alliances and joint ventures set to remain a valuable force over the 2020-25 regulatory period A MP7 will pose unprecedented challenges for water companies. With Ofwat demanding they do more with less, many are reassessing their approach to ensure they can gain maximum value from their supply chains. Some have opted to take more of the design and strategy in house, acting as intelligent clients and using a wider vari- ety of contractors on the basis of their particular skillsets. In those instances, there may be less scope for larger alli- ances but, even so, collaborative enter- prises can play a role. The joint venture between Barhale and Doosan Enpure, for example, is among those to have secured places on frameworks for Severn Trent and York- shire Water in AMP7. As Barhale's Dave Shaw said: "By combining forces, we felt that Barhale and Doosan Enpure brought together a ra† of complementary skills. It gives us outstanding capability across the requirements of AMP7." Others will instead look to put their faith in the advantages that larger alli- ances can offer, with Anglian Water per- haps representing the gold standard when it comes to this approach. The utility's capital investment pro- gramme is delivered through @One, the alliance set up in late 2004 in prepara- tion for the start of AMP4 in 2005, and during AMP6 it has tasked the IOS, IMDS, IMR and IS alliances with carrying out other aspects of its programme. Anglian has seen clear benefits from establishing long-term, mature and evolving relationships, having estab- lished the right behaviours and culture to deliver the desired results. The com- pany said in its PR19 business plan that the alliancing approach has delivered huge savings and better service, adding: "We have a culture that is outward look- ing, and embraces innovation and transformation." On the other hand, Thames Water said in its business plan that the alliance approach it adopted for its AMP6 capital Transformation Alliance (TTA), which ran our information systems, and the Infrastructure Alliance (IA), which ran our water network. The key insight was the need to ensure that we, Thames Water, had full oversight and manage- ment control of the core activities that are essential to deliver a brilliant service to our customers." It said it was also working to "com- plete the restructure of eight2O, our capi- tal delivery alliance, to ensure we build an efficient and effective capital projects delivery capability that underpins our capital programme in the rest of this planning period". With plans for AMP7 yet to be fully confirmed, it remains to be seen how many alliances will be in place for the coming years and it is clear that care must be taken to ensure the approach is right for the company. Nonetheless, a multi-partner approach can help facili- tate innovation, greater efficiency and strong relationships, and that is clearly something the industry should be look- ing to seize on. investment programme and infrastruc- ture services had proved flawed. It said that, when reviewing its AMP6 plans, it was clear that "a number of the assumptions were inaccurate and there had been failures in delivery". It added that many of the "serious operational incidents" that occurred in 2016 and 2017 were directly related to the operating model it adopted in 2015 and the culture it engendered. Thames subsequently committed to four fundamental and immediate changes to underpin the delivery of its strategic priorities for AMP7, which included restructuring its alliances to ensure it has the right level of control to manage its water network and informa- tion systems effectively with its partners. The restructure of the company, under a programme called One Thames, began in April 2018 and is designed to improve transparency and coordination. The company said: "As part of reor- ganising our business, it was clear that we also needed to restructure our supply chain, particularly the Technology and

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